A Journey through Twin Parenthood

I’m back:)

DH and I don’t have internet at home so I haven’t been able to update my blog in a long time. To catch you up really quick, the twins are here! And are currently 9 weeks and 1 day old! THey were born July 8th–5 weeks and 1 day early. I did end up going into labor and was having pains starting a few days before hand. My doctors kept saying it was nothing though so I stayed home. I had a feeling on July 7th though that I did need checked out at least but the doctor on call that Sunday brushed me off so i waited and when my back pain got really bad and kept getting worse with contractions I called back knowing a different doctor was on duty. She told me to come straight in. By the time I got hooked up to the machines to be monitored, my contractions were 3 minutes apart and then quickly went to two minutes apart and were getting stronger. I was only dilated to a 3 and 50% effaced but with both babies breech the doctor wanted to do a c-section because she said with the contractions coming that close together and as strong as they were that there was no stopping them this time. So, I was prepped for surgery, had a spinal block with a kick (morphine was added in I was told later), and at 6:18a.m. on Monday the 8th, my little man was born and after a few scary seconds started crying. Then at 6:21 a.m. my little miss arrived crying even louder. The nurses and pediatricians made me wait to see the babies even though they were breathing. They showed me baby B first and then I had to beg to see Baby A too since for some reason they didn’t bother to show me him. Quickly after that they were whisked away to the special care nursery since they were preemies. I sent DH with them too. Not long after that I heard the doctor say “We’ve got some bleeders” and then the curtain in front of me got sprayed with blood (so did the doctor I saw later). I was hemorrhaging but it was controlled one of the nurses said. Soon after being stitched (or should I say glued?) closed, I was wheeled through the special care nursery where i was allowed to glimpse the babies and then I was brought to my postpartum recovery room. After a few minutes in recovery I started throwing up profusely and we discovered I have an intolerance to morphine. Not long after, my nurse was taking care of me and said I was bleeding “a lot” and went and got the doctor. By then, a different one was on duty and he had the nurses weighing the pads that were put under me to check my blood loss. There was also talk of doing some type of balloon surgery if the pills and shot I was given to help my blood clot didn’t go into effect soon. Luckily, after a few hours the bleeding slowed to a little heavier than normal but was within an acceptable range I guess. I was also given some phenegran pills and then a shot of phenegran to stop the vomiting. During all this, my mom visited for a few minutes and then my MIL, SIL, and grandmother in law did. Later that night my dad and little sister visited. They were all allowed to see the babies for a few minutes at a time. I’m still pissed that I wasn’t allowed to leave the room to see them and they weren’t allowed to be brought to me. It was like that until about 6 a.m. the next morning when my night nurse decided she would wheel my bed into the nursery. I got to hold the babies then! After about holding both of them for 5 minutes and being incredibly weak doing so, a nurse rushed in saying I needed a transfusion since the results of my hemoglobin test from a few hours before came in and evidently my numbers were really, really low. During the course of that day and night, I received 4 units of blood. After the last one, my hemoglobin levels were still really low but the doctor thought I would be able to recover the rest of the way on my own (and with the help of iron pills). I still think whoever donated that last bag of blood had had a lot of caffeine beforehand though. After I was unhooked it wasn’t very long after that I was able to stand and walk around without being too nauseous or dizzy. It was then that I was able to have the catheter out and was allowed to sit in a wheelchair. Even though it was 3 a.m. at the time, my nurse wheeled me into the nursery where I got to hold each of the babies for a while. I loved it! It was the longest visit I’d had with them! Eventually though, we had to leave and I was brought back to my room. I was able to talk the new nurse on duty to unhook my IVs and let me shower and take the bandage off of my abdomen. None of that was fun and it hurt a lot but I knew it would bring me another step closer to being more independent and able to see my babies more. From then on, I could come and go from the nursery whenever I wanted and I did go and see the babies very often along with helping to feed and change them. The nurses said me and DH weren’t letting them do their jobs! We were there for 9 days for baby B and 10 for baby A. Those days seemed to take forever until we got the okay to take them home. We stayed at the hospital the entire time (in a comp room after I was released). Well, I’ve went on and on so I’ll go for now; I started working again last week so I should get back to my job:)

I am currently struggling with infertility and am trying to share my experience with others who may be going through the same thing. Right now, my life is focused on conceiving but I also enjoy books, hiking, animals, and I absolutely love to travel.